Masters of the Shadowlands - Books 3 and 4 by Cherise Sinclair

 
Book three of the Masters of the Shadowlands series is Breaking Free, and book four is Lean on Me. When I reviewed the first two books of this series, I gave them a 9 of 10. And, I called those two books "BDSM Lite".

The first two books in this series worked for me because of the D/s, not because of the BD or SM elements. Unfortunately, an entire series of broken submissives who need to be "fixed" by a club full of near perfect über-doms... four such books back to back is a bit much, and the third and fourth books just didn't work as well for me.Once you know the formula, all of the books in the series are basically the same - insert different names and different psychoses or hangups, and you've got them all, in a nutshell.

Here is the blurb for Breaking Free:

A sadistic husband left Beth scarred, inside and out. Only at the Shadowlands BDSM club does she feel like a woman. But her fears limit her to Doms who won't overwhelm her--the very ones who cannot arouse her. The Master of the Shadowlands gives her an ultimatum: accept the Dom he assigns or lose her membership. The last thing Beth wants is a ruthless, powerful Dom, but that's just what she gets.

Asked to take on a problem sub, Nolan sees the issue immediately--although truly submissive, the little redhead is too scared to relinquish control and her Doms have let her get away with it. That will change right now.

As Master Nolan takes Beth under command, compelling her submission, she's terrified, but the experienced Dom brings her pleasure, not pain. His only demand is that she never lie to him. Under his capable hands, her body comes alive, and she begins to heal. As he pushes her limits, she learns to trust…and then to love. And she realizes he is beginning to care for her in return.

But now her cruel husband has found her, and Master Nolan discovers she's been lying and lying and lying.

And the blurb for Lean on Me:

Andrea wants to submit, but not to just any so-called Dom. He has to be tougher than the slum-bred bullies she grew up with. She’d given up finding a true Dom when her friend finagles her a place as a trainee in an exclusive BDSM club with the powerful Shadowlands Masters. Andrea’s thrilled...and terrified.

Forced to accept an unknown submissive into his carefully run trainee program, Master Cullen is furious. Not only is the young woman new to BDSM, but she’s unsuited to her role--armoured in leather like a Domme, she’s more liable to punch a Dom than kneel. He decides to push her right back out the door. But as he ruthlessly intimidates her, punishes her, then comforts her, his glimpses of the woman inside the emotional armour intrigue him and her utter surrender captures his heart.

Although Master Cullen is famous for his unfettered lifestyle, Andrea believes he might be interested in her, until she discovers he’s not just a bartender--he’s a cop. Maybe he’d overlook her past brush with the law, but when another trainee accuses her of stealing money, Andrea's sure she’s lost the Master she wanted with all her heart.

For me, I'm going to have to give both of these books a 6 of 10. And I can't call these books realistic BDSM, either. Not because the BDSM is so far fetched (it is not), but because the relationship is too.... too... it just wouldn't happen that way.  The Doms are, can't say Mary Sue for them... Marty Stu, I guess. A good BDSM relationship is about communication, not about the Dom just knowing what is wrong without any communication.

As for story elements: plot in both books is good, pacing has issues but isn't horrible, prose and dialogue were very well done, and character development is also very well done.

Book Rating: 6 of 10

Cherise Sinclair is a good storyteller, and I feel bad about rating these books a 6 of 10. But that's how I feel about them, it's what I must put out there if I am to be honest. Others, those newer to the ideas of BDSM, would probably rate them higher. Perhaps that is Ms. Sinclair's intended audience.


Kindle:
1. Club Shadowlands
2. Dark Citadel
3. Breaking Free
4. Lean on Me

Print:
* Masters of the Shadowlands (contains Club Shadowlands and Dark Citadel)
* Breaking Free

Puppy Love and Puppy Love 2 by Jeff Erno

 

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This is another of those series I stumbled across by accident, and I'm glad I did. I read both of these books back to back, so I'm reviewing them as a unit. I should have stopped after the first book to review it before continuing, but I didn't, so when I say Puppy Love, I'm referring to the two books as a unit, not just referring to the first book.

One of my favorite BDSM series is the Deviations series by Chris Owen and Jodi Payne. I love that we get the story from the beginning (sort of) -- the training, the level of commitment, the feelings. Deviations drew me in and  didn't let me go. It's a pure BDSM relationship, it transcends gender, it's about a Dom and sub. It's about trust, and love, and romance. Yes, Deviations was also about pain, and about some very intense D/s and S&M and B&D... but the relationship, and the trust, is an intrinsic part of the story.

Puppy Love comes very close to the intensity, the depth of character, and the kind of love that happens in a BDSM relationship. The kind of relationship, sort of, that was shown in Deviations.

Unfortunately, Puppy Love isn't written with anywhere near the skill that the Deviations series is written. In fact, the prose in Puppy Love is, well, pretty amateurish. But the story is done so well that I was willing to put up with the prose.

By amateurish I mean that there is too much "he did this then this then that then this then this then that". And the sentence structures are fairly simple, without a lot of variety, which has a tendency to pull me out of a story. It makes me want to edit it, fix it, and I get really annoyed by that. There is also too much repetition, too much reminding us what happened earlier in the story.

With that out of the way, let me talk about the story. The biggest difference in Puppy Love and Deviations is that, in  Deviations you have a very experienced Master, and a sub who has already learned the hard way that some Masters can be abusive and it is up to the submissive to decide where the line is between Dominance and abuse. The submissive is offering a gift of submission, they can define the boundaries of what they are willing to submit to, and they can completely rescind the gift they are offering if they feel it is being abused. Brand new submissives don't always realize that part of it. Petey, the submissive half of our couple, has no clue.

In Puppy Love, both the Dom and sub are 19 years old, and they are feeling their way through the mire of growing up as they figure out their sexual proclivities. In other words, they both make mistakes. Petey should have bailed on Matt early on in the relationship, or at the very least should have established some boundaries, but he doesn't. He sees himself as "inferior", and sees Matt as "superior", and he never questions any of Matt's actions. That's a dangerous mindset for a submissive. Dom does not equal superior, and sub does not equal inferior. Each needs the other... yin and yang, it's a dance that requires both participants. I have a feeling the author is going to take us there, so that both of our characters figure that out.

As for Matt - while he is pretty mature for a 19 year old, he's still growing up and maturing and figuring out who he is and who he will grow up to be. And he's being offered total submission with no boundaries... it's probably only natural he's going to abuse the trust that is given to him a little bit. There is no physical abuse between Matt and Petey, but there is some emotional abuse.

Lucky for our duo, Matt grows up and makes some changes, begins treating Petey better. But still, he's a young Master, and he makes some inexcusable mistakes. He admits to most of them, beats himself up for them, but if he'd only read a few BDSM 101 books he'd have known that Rule Number One is to never put your submissive in a position that is out of your control. Ever. But, enough of my ranting, if he'd read a few BDSM 101 books then I guess we'd have lost a big part of the plot. Hard to watch people grow and learn if they already know everything, right?

I will warn that the BDSM in the Puppy Love series may squick some people. There are a few scenes of being required to drink urine, and a humiliation scene in the second book that I had to breeze through. Not much squicks me, but the humiliation scene bothered me a great deal. With that being said, most of what happens in Puppy Love is D/s. There is very little bondage, and even that little tiny bit is extremely light. There are two spanking scenes, neither of which are rough. Matt's kink is control, not sadism.

I should also mention that this isn't a puppy fetish book. Matt calling Petey his "Pup" is just a term of endearment, not a way of life. 

As for my usual rundown of elements, it's hard to describe the plot - book one's plot is mostly just the two of them getting together and figuring some things out, basic coming of age and figuring out you're gay and submissive. Book two has some other plot elements in it besides that, and what is there fits with the story even if I wish most of the plot devices hadn't happened - I get bothered by Masters making stupid mistakes because they haven't bothered to educate themselves - but, suffice it say, there is more plot. Still, I don't rate either book very high on the plot factor. Pacing could have been better, but at no time did I consider putting either book down and not picking it back up. The biggest pacing problem was in repeated information, not in a slow storyline. Prose was... not good. I called it amateurish earlier, I'll leave it at that. Dialogue was okay, though. A few times the dialogue felt forced, and it bugged me that these were college kids saying "do not" instead of "don't" and "you are" instead of "you're", but the dialogue was mostly okay. Character development, on the other hand, was excellent. And the sex was... well, it smoked.

I've gone back and forth on a rating, parts of this series deserve a pretty low rating, but other parts of it deserve a higher rating. In the end, I'm going to rate it on the entertainment value and give it a 7 of 10. I came to that by taking into consideration the the story and excellent character building, with points taken away for the annoyance of the prose and a few plot devices that could have been handled better. I will be keeping an eye on this author: Jeff Erno tells an incredible story, and does an exceptional job of bringing his characters to life on paper. He just needs to work a bit on the mechanics.

Book Rating: Puppy Love and Puppy Love 2: 7 of 10
Heat Level: Puppy Love and Puppy Love 2:  5 of 5

Unfortunately, while Jeff Erno's site does mention that he hopes Puppy Love 3 will be out later this year, there is no other information about it. But, I found a lot of teaser info on Goodreads, you can read it here. I'm going to add Puppy Love 3 to my Anxiously Awaiting page the next time I put it together, as I want to make sure I don't miss the next installment.


1. Puppy Love
2. Puppy Love 2: Building a Family
3. Puppy Love 3: Reawakening

Update: My review for Puppy Love 3 can be found here.

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Review: Branded Sanctuary (Nature of Desire book 7) by Joey W. Hill

Let me start out this review by saying I love Joey W. Hill's Nature of Desire series. After Rough Canvas, I didn't think a BDSM story could get any better - Rough Canvas had the need for submission, and the need for a submissive. It had the intense emotional connection that can happen between Master and submissive. And the scenes were smokin' hot. Rough Canvas was one of the best love stories I've ever read. Then I read Natural Law and, Oh my. Next I read Ice Queen and Mirror of My Soul and when I finished Mirror of my Soul I had to pick Ice Queen back up and start from the beginning. The story touched me in ways that can't be described.

So it is to be expected that when Ms. Hill finally found time to give us book seven of this series, that I read it the first opportunity I had.

First, let me say you should not read Branded Sanctuary until you've read Ice Queen and Mirror of my Soul. We first meet Brendan in those books, and there is much you won't understand in Branded Sanctuary if you haven't already met Brendan.

With that said, it is going to be very hard for me to talk about what I liked and disliked about Branded Sanctuary without putting some spoilers in. So if you haven't yet read Branded Sanctuary then you may want to stop reading here, just knowing that I give the writing a 10 of 10, but the story a 4 of 10, which is how I ended up with a Book Rating of 7 of 10.

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Second warning: There are spoilers past this point.

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Joey W. Hill can explain a submissive's mindset better than any other author I have ever read. Submissive people have a mind of their own that they are more than capable of using, they aren't stupid, they aren't worthless. They choose to gift their submission to someone they care for and respect. A healthy Dom/sub relationship involves a lot of feelings, and a whole lot of trust. The trust aspect was missing in this relationship, and that really bothers me - but the feelings were all there, times ten.

Chloe and Brendan both blew it in the trust department on several occasions, and I don't believe either did anything particularly noteworthy in order to prove themselves trustworthy once again. Brendan freaks and bails on Chloe emotionally once, and Chloe is about as untrustworthy of a Dom as I believe I've ever seen. And yet Brendan gives her complete trust. There is something broken in both of them, and I wanted to see them both healed. But I don't believe we saw that. I think Chloe is well on her way, but I'm not so sure about Brendan. I was made to care for these characters, and I wanted them to find peace and happiness.

As someone in the BDSM lifestyle, before I found my soul mate and married him, I met a few vanilla guys I liked and tried to make it work with them. It was a disaster. I cared for two of them deeply, but my needs were not being met and when I tried to tell them what I needed they couldn't handle it. I learned the hard way that a relationship between a vanilla and someone who is wired to be very un-vanilla just won't work in the long term. And so I can't bring myself to believe that Chloe and Brendan's story is one of Happily Ever After, but at best, Happy for Now. I understand that we are supposed to believe that Brendan is so submissive that he'll want whatever Chloe wants and will be fine just making her happy - but I just can't bring myself to believe he's never going to want to be flogged or spanked again, I can't believe he isn't going to miss the discipline of a Mistress who knows how to handle him, who knows how to give him those extreme sensations. I feel sad for Brendan that the woman he loves isn't going to be able to give him those things. Submissives have needs, too. Part of finding a relatonship that works for everyone means finding someone with needs the opposite of yours. If you like to be flogged, find someone who likes to flog. If you like to be bound, find someone who loves shibari. If you can't stand needles then stay away from the people who love to do needle play. Brendan can take a 10 of 10 on the pain threshold level, and it doesn't look like he's going to be getting anything worse than about a 2 or a 3 from now on, if that. I find that very sad. It's okay for a submissive to have needs that they want to make sure get met. I wish Brendan had healed enough to see that.

Here is the blurb:

Chloe has always been a creature of joy and laughter. Since a brutal attack nearly a year ago, the trauma she experienced has gotten worse. She has started hiding from her life, even putting up walls between herself and those she cares about most. During a panic attack one night, she impulsively calls a number that she’s had for many months. Chloe met Brendan at her boss’s wedding. With confidence and seduction, he easily steps into the role of helping her manage her fear. By the end of the long call, they’ve indulged in some serious flirtation and mind-blowing phone sex—and she’s feeling things she’s buried for too long.

The problem is that Brendan is the perfect male submissive—and Chloe isn’t wired for the D/s lifestyle. While their attraction is undeniable, Chloe doesn’t know if she can be everything Brendan needs. As a submissive, Brendan would never ask her to be something she’s not—even if it will break both of their hearts to turn away from how they feel about each other.

I know Branded Sanctuary wasn't written to be a tragedy, but I can't help but seeing it that way. I thought things were going to be okay when Chloe punished Brendan near the end, but then she has to apologize to him because she doesn't like to hurt him. That just tells us, the readers, that she doesn't have a clue what hurts him, she doesn't have a clue about what he needs. I just feel so sad for Brendan. Well, for both of them, actually, to be so in love with someone when the relationship is not going to be fulfilling for one of them.

So, as I said earlier. Joey W. Hill is an incredibly talented writer, and I give her writing a 10 of 10. But the story? The story only gets a 4 of 10, because I could only see tragedy in the ending, not the Happily Ever After that I thought I'd be seeing, based on the other books in this series. The book gets a 7 of 10, though I was tempted to give it a lower rating. I care for both of these characters, and I really wanted to see a happy ending for them.

Book Rating: Branded Sanctuary: 7 of 10

Nature of Desire Series
1. Holding the Cards
2. Natural Law
3. Ice Queen
4. Mirror of My Soul
5. Mistress of Redemption
6. Rough Canvas
7. Branded Sanctuary


You can see my ratings of the earlier books in this series here.

Masters of the Shadowlands by Cherise Sinclair

Most of the time I get bored by the "brand new to BDSM" books that are designed to teach people about why someone might like this sort of thing.

Masters of the Shadowlands was a pleasant surprise. While it is a "teaching" book, the D/s in it was hot. The BDSM is mostly lightweight: there is bondage, and there is D/s, but almost no SM, and while there is some discipline, most of it is more about control than it is about pain.

There are two stories in this book - the first involves a young woman with a broken down car who walks to a house in the rain to ask for help. The house happens to be a private BDSM club, and the owner (an experienced Dom, of course) gives her the option of waiting in the foyer or coming in and exploring. She explores.

In the second story a woman goes to a beginner BDSM class with her boyfriend, but he thinks that being Dom means he has to be harsh and rude, and she breaks it off with him once they arrive and he starts being a jerk. As she's about to leave, one of the monitors (who also happens to be an experienced Dom) offers to be her tutor/partner if she wants to stay for the class.

Both Doms are gentle when needed and tough when needed. They are both responsible with their control, and both of them work to not push too far too fast.

I think this book will work for those who like BDSM Lite, as well as those who like things a bit rougher - not because the SM is rough (it isn't), but because the D/s is so well done.

Book Rating: Master of the Shadowlands: 9 of 10

On The Ragged Edge Of The World by Jamie Craig

This story starts in Calendar Boys-October: Trick Of Silver, and picks up a week or two after the end of the first book.

On The Ragged Edge Of The World hits a lot of my genres, it is well done Urban Fantasy complete with werewolf politics, werewolf hunters, etc. And it is D/s erotica. It is also M/m, which technically isn't my thing, but the D/s is well done enough that it works for me quite well. Notice I'm not calling it BDSM... it has a little of the the B (being cuffed to the bed a few times), but it's mostly a D/s love story all wrapped up in an Urban Fantasy werewolf story.

You really do need to read the Calendar Boys short for the book to mean as much, though.

Here's the blurb:

Darren Sumner spent fifteen years hunting werewolves, a member of the elite organization Argenti. But one night of betrayal sent him from his Argenti family to the arms of werewolf Aden Richter--one of the most powerful Alphas in Washington D.C. Neither can deny their passion or their hunger for the other, but as Darren tries to find his place in this new world, he wonders whether desire can be enough. Rumors of an upcoming power struggle between the packs bring the question of Darren's role to the forefront. Is he Aden's partner and a leader of the pack? Or is he nothing more than Aden's lover, placed outside his family? Darren struggles to prove himself as the tensions between the packs mount and Aden's ex-lover puts a plan of vengeance into action.

I'll give both books a 9 of 10, and the series a 9 of 10.

Calendar Boys-October: Trick Of Silver: Rating 9 of 10
On The Ragged Edge Of The World: Rating 9 of 10
Series Rating: 9 of 10

It was an enjoyable read, with well developed characters, nice dialogue, and good pacing. Can't ask for much more than that.

Calendar Boys-October: Trick Of Silver
On The Ragged Edge Of The World

Soul Mates series by Jourdan Lane

Fair warning: This is erotica, M/M, and there are some elements of D/s involved. It is not a BDSM story, and the two main characters do not end up in a Master/slave relationship, they turn into equals. But there are elements of D/s throughout the series.

It is first a story of Vampires and the beings that surround them. In this case, those beings include shapeshifters and humans.. and later in the series there are even Demons and Angels.

I started this series a long time ago, but just got around to reading the most recent book, Secrets.

In the first book, Bound by Blood, we have a vampire (Lucien) who is taken with a human (Peter). A human who has a thing against vampires. And this isn't just any vampire, it's the Master Vampire of the city. Of course. Lucien works hard to seduce Peter, and to gain his trust. The first half of the book we think the plot is the seduction, but then we are given an actual action plot, with intrigue and danger and fighting. The world building is really well done, the sex is hot, the plot is intriguing, the main characters have a depth of character you don't often see in erotica, and the secondary characters begin to be fleshed out pretty good as well.

Deceptions, the second book in the Soul Mates series, picks up about a year after the end of Bound by Blood. Peter and Lucian are still together, running things together. The multiple plots in this book weave in and out of the book. This book has a lot going on, some of it that won't fully be understood until future books. Where you have fierce loyalty, the possiblity of deception is always there. And the deceptions in this book hurt. When you are close enough to all of the characters to feel the pain yourself, it a good book.

Sacrifice picks up very soon after the end of Deceptions, with the cast of characters dealing with the deceptions that took place in the previous book. A few of the ongoing plots get resolved with new ongoing plots taking their place. The characters continue to be well defined and three dimensional. The dialogue flows, the action is believable, the worldbuilding very well done, and the sex is still hot. These books are truly urban fantasy at this point, with lots of the moral stuff that comes up when you start looking at vampire and werewolf society vs human society. With power comes responsibility, and vampires and werewolves have a lot of power. Also, with their extra "magical" abilities, life is just different.

Secrets seems to pick up a few months after Sacrifice ends. We do learn some secrets, and we see relationships evolve and change. The ending of Secrets ties some things up, but not enough for me. And apparently the next book, Ascension, isn't that far along just yet.


Bound by Blood: 8 of 10
Deceptions: 10 of 10
Sacrifice: 10 of 10
Secrets: 8 of 10

Series Rating: 9 of 10


1. Soul Mates: Bound By Blood
2. Soul Mates: Deceptions
3. Soul Mates: Sacrifice
4. Soul Mates: Secrets

Chaos Magic series by Jay Lygon

First, a few warnings about what this series is about, just in case the kink in this book doesn't happen to be your kink. This book is Yaoi BDSM, and it kind of creates a modern day pantheon of gods and goddesses. The ancient world had the God of Crops, the modern world has a God of Traffic.

Chaos Magic introduces us to the main characters, and helps us understand the mythologies (which aren't myths in the book, they are reality). There is BDSM, there is romance, there is worship.

Love Runes picks up where Chaos Magic leaves off, and things go much deeper into the inpersonal relationships and the mythologies created in this world.

And then we get to Personal Demons. Where Love Runes had Sam growing up and figuring things out, now it is time for Hector to come to terms with himself.

These books explore the difference in an abusive relationship vs a healthy BDSM relationship. They explore modern day spirituality against the backdrop of the spirituality that existed before Christianity took hold. And they explore some pretty intricate interpersonal relationships while they are at it.

Because of the combination of BDSM, issues explored, mythologies explored, and romance, the books and the series get a rating of 9 of 10 from me. And a heat level of 5 of 5.

Book Ratings: 9 of 10
Series Rating: 9 of 10
Heat Level: 5 of 5


1. Chaos Magic
2. Love Runes
3. Personal Demons